Istanbul Airport

Not Verified | Worst airport I’ve been to. The staff have the worst customer service I have come across in my life, won’t help, went to buy a visa and the lady that was there was on her personal phone talking to someone else for 5 minutes before asking me what I needed help with. Staff very rude, they all are on their phones and have attitudes and won’t help you at all when you ask for help, they just tell you they don’t know and that’s it, they don’t even speak proper English.

✅ Trip Verified | Seats! This airport needs seats. Big time. Less fancy stores. More seats. A shame that the experience here ruined the great experience onboard Turkish Airlines. Great service in the air. But I will think twice next time choosing TK between Europe and Asia via Istanbul. And the Wi-Fi sucks! Only one hour of bad connection. One star for...really I don’t know.

Not Verified | My visit to this airport was, and I do not use this word lightly, traumatic. A colleague and I were redirected there due to a missed flight from Canada on our way to Cairo, Egypt. To say the staff was ill trained, rude, dismissive and grossly overwhelmed is an understatement. I will share the most egregious of the issues. When we first arrived, there was no one to help us understand what was next. Our connection was delayed and thus we missed our flight in Turkey to Cairo. We had to wander the airport with little to no direction to include many misdirection's and were actually rudely waved off like insignificant pests at one point without a word from airport staff that we attempted to approach for directions. Because of the delays (not all on Istanbul airport but certainly not helped by the staff) we had to take an additional COVID test because the time limit on ours ran out. The testing area was super hard to find and there was not good signage for it. Additionally a very angry worker rammed the instrument up our noses (I saw the person before us, my colleague and myself literally stagger back after the test) so violently I literally saw stars. He complained of pain a full day later. Turkish Airlines would not redirect us from our missed flight. We had to purchase additional tickets to be able to make it to Cairo. We went to the baggage handling area to retrieve our luggage. The man I spoke to glanced at my luggage receipt, and dismissively told me our bags had been routed to Cairo. He didn't check a screen or ask anyone. This he did while breezing by me as he left a busy line of people. When we arrived in Cairo, our luggage was, you guessed it, lost in the Istanbul airport. I certainly hope that these negative reviews prompt some change there. I will never step foot in that airport again if I have any power at all. I feel like, they are the face of the country and they have given Turkey a very bad impression on me.

Not Verified | What a terrible airport. Rude staff at check in counters. I was ignored at a cafe. I was the only person at the cafe to order an espresso, the lady at cafe saw me, but didn't acknowledge me. I waited for 5 minutes (giving her the benefit of the doubt because she may have been busy) another man walked up to the counter, she came over to help him right away and then I walked away. I couldn't get access to the internet because because my passport would not scan, staff told me to call a number to get help, I called, they could not help. I will try to avoid using this airport for transits even if I have to pay more to transit at another airport. I am a strong believer in voting with my money.

Not Verified | What happens when ego is huge but there is no substance to back it up. Gleaming new airport is one of pet projects of Turkish president. It is huge to say the least. The rest lack some serious attention. It is highly disorganized with insufficient staff support. You are first screened for security at the entrance which creates huge lines. We subsequently waited for business check in for >30minutes. At one point the single person serving us left. Afterwards you go through quick passport check for international flights. Second security check is also decent. There is only one business lounge for international departures which makes crowding a certainty. That being said they do have an omelette station which was freshly prepared by several chefs. At the gate there is another security check. No announcements at all so people rush when they think the check in has started which creates chaos in a small space dedicated to the gate. Overall, staff are poorly motivated to help, signs are lacking and there are very few seats in the general area. There are two ways of getting wifi - text and scanning your passport. Text didn't work when we were there and scanning stations are very few. I have not visited other mega airports but if they are as efficient as Istanbul, I will definitely avoid them in the future.

✅ Trip Verified | The airport is too big and confusing. Information kiosk people are not good to understand or answer questions in English language. Seats are few compared to the big number of crowds. Seats are not comfortable. They do not provide good expected services for people with long layover. They have over priced lounges and sleeping pods.

✅ Trip Verified | Arrival was not too bad, staff were very miserable. Departure nightmare, long queues, unhelpful staff, everyone gets passport checked at least 8 times! No clear signs, people confused where to go and as said before staff very unhelpful. It may be a new big airport but it is the worst airport I have been to, puts me off of going again.

Not Verified | Appalling signage. Rude and unhelpful staff at departure gate, who insisted that the British government required them to see a receipt for a COVID test. This is nonsense. They said we would have to buy new tests online (68GBP each) or miss the flight. With about 10 minutes before take off, they wanted our COVID passports and let us board. A very stressful hour of unnecessary argument. Will try to avoid this airport in future.

Not Verified | This is the worst airport I've ever had to visit in my life. What kind of airport is it where not even announcements are made? Missed the flight and booked a new ticket with money that I just happened to have with me, thank goodness. Actually, I shouldn't have to pay any money for a ticket that I shouldn't have needed if there were competent staff and a good system where announcements were made about when the gates would close. It was a terrible time, most likely even infected with Corona there because we had no more food and someone gave us something out of pity. We even almost missed our second flight because again nothing was announced. It was such a traumatic experience for us that we will hopefully never fly with Turkish Airlines again. Just recently a work colleague told me she has exactly the same experience. Really a shame this airport, just plain embarrassing. I wouldn't even recommend it to my worst enemy.

Not Verified | Terrible airport, poorly organized, too huge and cold, rude staff. What was the most shocking for me, they barely speak English, most of the staff speak Turkish instead. For an international airport it's unbelievable. I was travelling with 2 pets by transit flight, and there was no trolley, nothing. After about 20 min of walking, asking around 5 persons (!) and trying to find a trolley or a plastic stroller I was refused to use one, and was threatened with the police by the staff if I use one. You have a paid small trolleys but after the passport check. There's no open wifi, you must log in with your passport in special point which was not working. It was a really bad experience and I will avoid this airport at all cost. No comparison to Dubai.